Jesuits & Friends Issue 69

Jesuits and Friends A faith that does justice Spring 2008 Issue 69

In this issue:

Province welcomes new General, page 3

High School rises out of Nigerian tragedy Swimming, sports, hiking and classes in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan

How music can ease the suffering of Aids, page 11

‘Spiritually humbling and uplifting’ - working as a Chaplain at a Neurological Hospital Translating the Good News in the Guyanese Interior

Bishop approves rebuilding of Sacred Heart Church, page 20

Jesuits and Friends A faith that does justice

VOLUNTEERING: HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED? The Jesuits provide many opportunities in Britain and overseas for anyone who wants to offer their services to people less privileged than themselves. Here are just four examples: XAVIER VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME

JESUIT VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY

LONDON JESUIT VOLUNTEERING

CHRISTIAN LIFE COMMUNITY

Now based in Jesuit Missions, the Xavier Volunteer Programme (soon to be renamed JM Volunteering) is the overseas voluntary service agency of the British Jesuits. It aims to provide placements for school leavers and others who wish to match their skills to the needs of the poor overseas.

JVC is for people ages 17 – 35 who volunteer for a period of time (from three weeks to a year) of UK based community living with a simple lifestyle, voluntary work and Ignatian Spirituality.

London Jesuit Volunteers places busy adults of all ages in direct service for a few hours a week with those who are materially poor, vulnerable and marginalized in our society, integrating action with reflection.

CLC is a worldwide community comprised of small local group which meet regularly to help members deepen their life of prayer and support each other in their response to God’s love.

CONTACT Lisa Directo Davis Mount Street Jesuit Centre 114 Mount Street London W1K 3AH

CONTACT c/o 114 Mount Street London W1K 3AH.

CONTACT Hania Lubienska Jesuit Missions 11 Edge Hill London SW19 4LR T: + 44(0)20 8946 0466 E: hania@jesuitmissions.org.uk W: www.jesuitmissions.org.uk

CONTACT The Programme Manager 23 New Mount Manchester M4 4DE T: + 44(0) 161 832 6888 E: staff@jvc.u-net.com W: www.jesuitvounteers-uk.org

In Sydney, Australia, 5—15 July 2008 Up to 2,000 young adults (20s and 30s) from all over the world Celebrating the diversity of our lands and our peoples Deepening their relationship with God and each other Sharing Ignatian spirituality and a ‘faith that does justice’ Complementing and enhancing the World Youth Day programme For more information contact enquiries@magisuk.org or visit www.magisuk.org

An

B ex ook 31 ten ing M de da ar d te ch to !

invitation

to join

Cover photo: The delegates process into the Gesù Church in Rome at the start of the 35th General Congregation. Credit: Don Doll SJ

T: +44 (0)20 7499 0285 E: clcew@iname.com W: www.clcew.org.uk

T: +44 (0) 20 7495 1673 E: lisa@mountstreet.info W: www.msjc.org.uk/ljv.htm

A YEAR WITH THE JESUITS of the British Province The British Jesuits have produced a DVD covering many aspects of their work in Britain, Guyana and South Africa. This 40-minute DVD – A Year with the Jesuits of the British Province – helps to explain where and how the Jesuits work, the breadth of their activities, and some of the key elements of Ignatian Spirituality and a Jesuit education. It could never cover every aspect of the Province’s works in the available time, but it is hoped that our benefactors and friends will find it informative and inspirational. The DVD was made by Stonyhurst Old Boy, Dominic Hartley. Contact the Communications Officer, Society of Jesus, 114 Mount Street, London W1K 3AH, UK for further information and copies.

www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk

Contents

Spring 2008 Issue 69

Jesuits and Friends is published three times a year by the British Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), in association with Jesuit Missions.

Tim Curtis SJ Executive Editor Ged Clapson Editor Editorial group: Denis Blackledge SJ Dushan Croos SJ Alan Fernandes Jane King

Jesuits and lay collaborators gather at Silveira House in Chishawasha near Harare to mark five years of the African Jesuit Aids Network. See page 11

Siobhan Totman

FROM THE EDITOR

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A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE OF DISCERNING GOD’S WILL Dominic Robinson SJ at the General Congregation in Rome

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Graphic Design:

Ian Curtis www.firstsightgraphics.com

CLASS OF ETERNITY Two years after the Nigerian plane tragedy: Abuchi Muoneme SJ 6

Printed by: The Magazine Company Enfield, Middlesex EN3 7NT

YOUTH CAMPS IN KYRGYZSTAN Activities among the mountains, Br Damian Wojciechowski SJ

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www.magprint.co.uk To protect our environment papers used in this publication are

VOLUNTEERING THEN...

Nearly 40 years after leaving Stonyhurst, his experience of volunteering in Rhodesia still has an effect upon David Hurst 8

produced by mills that promote sustainably managed forests and utilise Elementary Chlorine Free process to produce fully recyclable

…AND NOW Karen Partyka, a St Aloysius alumna, reflects on her recent experience as a volunteer in Tanzania 9

material in accordance with an Environmental Management System conforming with BS EN ISO 14001:2004.

Editorial office: 11 Edge Hill London SW19 4LR Tel: 020 8946 0466 Email: director@jesuitmissions.org.uk

TRIUMPH OF FAITH AND LOVE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA Bishop Crispian Hollis reports on his visit to South Africa and Zimbabwe 10 MUSIC FOR LIFE Proclaiming a gospel of life and hope, Danielle Vella

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THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SCHOOL IN INDIA Sharon Wheatley and Wimbledon College’s link with Loyola Primary School in Karnataka State 12

STAGE: GIVING EVEN MORE AT LOURDES Matt Betts marks the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady in France 14 WORKING WITH THOSE WHOSE LIVES ‘HAVE NO USE’ Phelim McGowan SJ writes on his experience as Chaplain in a Neurological Hospital 15 THE LAUNCH OF THINKING FAITH Ged Clapson on the Province’s latest engagement with contemporary issues

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GOOD NEWS AMONG A REMOTE, GENTLE PEOPLE Nicholas King SJ on the task of translating the New Testament into Patamona Nicholas King SJ 17 PERSONAL GOALS – BEARING WITNESS – RAISING FUNDS Yes, it must be the London Marathon again!

Alan Fernandes 18 APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER This month’s intentions, Michael Beattie SJ NEWS FROM JESUIT MISSIONS Tim Curtis SJ 19 BITS AND PIECES News from around the British Province

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GETTING IN TUNE WITH THE LORD Richard DeNobrega explains why he has applied to enter the Society of Jesus 21 OBITUARIES

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GETTING IN TOUCH AND HOW YOU CAN HELP 23 www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Spring 2008 Jesuits & Friends

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From the Editor... lop, plop, plop – water falling on a stone.

Drip, drip, drip – water falling on a sponge.

These are two images St Ignatius uses to help us access our feelings about decisions that have been made. Some decisions just feel right because they are so smooth whereas those that grate on us, we just know they are bad.

Currently I’m in training to join the Jesuit Missions team of runners and do the marathon!

Now why would a 54 year old man who hasn’t run for a bus in 20 years want to do such a thing? I just feel that as Director, I should be leading from behind. This is certainly a “plop – plop” decision, but please pray that I can at least complete the course.

The 200+ electors gathered in Rome for the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus have elected Fr Adolfo Nicolás as Father General to replace Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, whose resignation had previously been accepted.

Impressions from those attending the Congregation in Rome suggest that the election just felt right. This then is a truly “drip – drip” decision, one that has given consolation to all those who have taken part in it.

Fr Adolfo was originally born in Spain, but has worked as a missionary, mostly in Japan. He has come out of the same mould as Fr Pedro Arrupe, and has a reputation for being both very smart and very holy. What more could we ask for?

He has the task of leading the Society during the years ahead and he most certainly needs our prayers.

As I write this editorial, the Congregation continues to reflect on how the Society is called to respond to the needs of the world today. More listening to the plop, plop and drip drip. As we finish our Lent and prepare to celebrate Easter, let us all pray that we can continue to respond to the promptings of the Spirit and find real joy in the decisions we make.

P

Fr Tim Curtis SJ

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Jesuits & Friends Spring 2008 www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk

A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE OF DISCERNING GOD’S WILL Dominic Robinson SJ was able to share the prayerfulness and discussions of the recent General Congregation in Rome, not as a delegate but as part of an international team working behind the scenes as a translator. Here he shares his impressions of this historic event. t Ignatius instructed that a General Congregation of the Society of Jesus should not be held ‘at definite intervals or very frequently’ (Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, #677).

So this most recent Congregation convened on January 7, only the 35th since the foundation of the Society in 1540, has been a rare and important event. 226 Jesuits, representing an apostolic body ever more international, came together at the Jesuit General Curia in Rome. Among them were the British Provincial Fr Michael Holman, Fr David Smolira, Director of the Jesuit Institute in Johannesburg, Fr Fidelis Mukonori, Provincial of Zimbabwe, and Fr Stephen Buckland, Dean of Arrupe College, Harare.

One aim of General Congregation 35 (GC35) was to discuss various subjects relating to the life of the Society. This was carried out in discussions and debates, in small language and geographical groups and in plenary sessions. The fruits of these exchanges will be available in due course. In the first instance, however, GC35 was convoked for a very special reason. Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, having been General for 24 years and now nearly 80 years old, had sought the opinion of his Counsellors and obtained the assent of the Holy Father to submit his resignation. Consequently, a successor, to be the 29th after St Ignatius himself, had to be elected. The resignation of a General must be approved by a General Congregation. Then, representing the entire apostolic body of the Society, the Congregation has the responsibility to elect a new head.

The Congregation’s first job proved simple yet very moving. Fr Kolvenbach’s resignation was presented and accepted by the delegates who then gave him a standing ovation of several minutes: such was the mark of the Society’s acknowledgment of his selfless dedication over the last 24 years and of the many gifts he has brought to us and to our mission in the Church.

The second task, the week-long process of electing of a new General, was a truly wonderful event to witness. St Ignatius had himself laid down the rules for this process, and on the first day they were presented to the delegates, who were reminded that they had to be adhered to strictly. Ignatius intended that the election should be governed by attentiveness to the will of God guided by the Holy Spirit.

There is to be no campaigning, no manifestos and no media reports.

The delegates spend time in solitude, in prayer, pondering and discerning the gifts required of a new General. They make a personal list of names. Four days are spent in one-to-one conversations (called ‘murmurationes’) with other delegates. It is forbidden to discuss candidates in a group of more than two and with anyone who is not an elector. The intention is to find out more information on particular candidates in a spirit of honesty and openness with the good of the

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Society and the Church in mind.

The prayerful atmosphere in the Curia during this week was truly amazing.

Delegates spent much time in the chapel, in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament which was exposed throughout. Each day began with the celebration of Mass and ended with Benediction. A number said to me how these days were a remarkable experience of discerning God’s will, and were deeply moved at how the centuries-old process directed by the Founder himself was so grace-filled.

Outside the walls of the Curia the Roman weather was uncharacteristically wet that week, and most delegates hardly ventured outside. As the rain cleared towards the weekend, however, many found their way to the Ignatian sites, not as tourists but to pray for the gift of discernment. Some went to the The delegates at GC35 on the roof of the Curia in Rome … and (below) in session.

Credit: Don Doll SJ rooms where Ignatius had lived in the College of the Gesù and to his tomb in the Church below. Some the electors processed into the Church of the Holy Spirit prayed also at the tomb of former Fr General Pedro Arrupe. opposite the Curia to concelebrate a Mass at which voices Others made their way to the Church of San Pietro in resounded around the ancient walls with the singing of ‘Veni, Montorio, where Ignatius, on being elected General and at Sancte Spiritus’, ‘Come, Holy Spirit’. After this the electors first refusing to accept, spent several days in prayer. went into the assembly hall and the doors were shut. During The day of the Election, Saturday January 19, dawned the vote the Congregation staff and Curia community went to brightly. Thankfully we were spared the rain as at 8am the Chapel for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament followed

by Benediction. Shortly after this a bell was rung to indicate that the election had been made, that the Holy Father had been informed by telephone, and then the doors to the hall were reopened. All were invited to offer the kiss of peace to the new General, Fr Adolfo Nicolás. This was naturally an occasion of great joy but one sensed too a spirit of deep gratitude that Ignatius’ process had once again, through God’s grace, provided our Society with a General who, as God’s choice and with God’s help, was the right man to lead us in the years to come. The exuberance of many at the Mass of Thanksgiving on the following day seemed to express great hope for the future, as we begin a new chapter under the guidance of a General who it was already clear was a man of great spiritual depth, experience of diverse cultures, and evident warmth.

GC35 has been full of energy and hopeful Father Adolfo Nicolás SJ enthusiasm. One key factor in this has been the Born in Palencia, Spain 29 April 1936 communal liturgy, with carefully chosen music in diverse Entered the Society of Jesus 15 September 1953 languages that has enhanced joyful, solemn and prayerful Studied philosophy in Spain 1958-1960 Studied theology in Tokyo, Japan 1964-1968 celebrations, and created an atmosphere of our deep Ordained priest in Toyko 17 March 1967 communion in Christ. But, another important and Obtained his Masters Degree in Theology overarching factor not to be overlooked has been simply at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome 1971 Professor in Systematic Theology at the great privilege to meet socially and share also Sophia University in Tokyo 1971-1978 informally in such an international apostolic body.

Director of the Pastoral Institute in Through this so much mutual learning can take place. As Manila, Philippines 1978-1984 Rector of the house for young Asian such the experience of GC35 highlights above all the Jesuit students of Theology 1991-1993 incredible richness of the gift the Society offers the Provincial of the Province of Japan 1993-1999 Church in her mission to bear Christ’s name to people of President of the Jesuit Conference of South East Asia and Oceania 2004-2007 all cultures. www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Spring 2008 Jesuits & Friends

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Class Of Eternity Abuchi Muoneme SJ dmund Burke, the 18th century Anglo-Irish educate other children. In their midnight crisis these political philosopher said, “All that is necessary bereaved parents came knocking on the gates of the for evil to triumph is for good men and women to governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili. The governor fold their hands and do nothing about it.” The Jesuits turned to the Society of Jesus and made several offers of North West Africa Province are determined that – of gifts of land and some funding for a new school. With despite the tragic events of two years ago – evil will this desire to immortalize the ‘class of eternity’ through not triumph. pragmatic service to others, the Jesuits began work on When things appear to be getting increasingly so bad another school: Jesuit Memorial College Port Harcourt. without any sign that it will get better that is when the Jesuit history was repeating itself. A similar request light is strongly present. On 10 December 2005, a group from Governor Odili came to the Society of Jesus from of parents were at the Port the governor of Sicily and the people of Harcourt Airport in Nigeria Messina about 460 years ago. They had waiting to embrace their wanted the Jesuits to enhance the cultural children and surprise them and religious life of the island of Sicily. At with Christmas gifts. All of a the consent of the Jesuits, the first school sudden, like a dream, a huge for non-Jesuits was born in Europe (1548). flash bulb lit the sky and Many subsequent schools that the Jesuits parents watched their own started sprang through requests from the children die before them; and people, coupled with funding or some children watched their endowment by benefactors and own sisters and brothers die benefactresses. before them.

The people of Nigeria have been These 60 beautiful angels indisputably impressed by our first college had great dreams. They all (LJC Abuja) in the province. The litmus dreamt of graduating from test has been carried out in Loyola Jesuit College Abuja LJC, and Nigerians have seen someday.

They dreamt of the quality of Jesuit education building a better nation and a in the training of future better world.

They were leaders.

The Jesuits are driven child prodigies, with humbled by the fact that, in multi-talents, whose parents had sacrificed the midst of a grave tragedy in to give them the best possible gift, quality our first high school, a Jesuit education. governor and his people are These children were basically victims of making strong requests that national negligence in a country where the Jesuits should help greed, corruption and bad leadership immortalize the departed triumph, and the aftershocks of this tragedy souls of our school children will never completely dampen. But within a and their city by starting an month of the tragedy, the traumatized academy in their honour. parents of these children had the boldness If you wish to support the to stand up and light a candle rather than Jesuits of North West Africa in curse the darkness. They wanted a new this project, contact Jesuit school with the standard of Loyola Jesuit A mother’s anguish, December 2005. Missions for more details.

College Abuja built in Port Harcourt to Photos supplied by author

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ast summer was full of different events for the Catholic Church in Kyrgyzstan and especially for us in Dzalalabad.

There were four summer camps last year: two for small children, one for older and one for youth. Such camps are very important for us, because they give us a great chance to do pastoral work with children. Most of the children during the year live in the villages, which are visited by a priest once every two weeks. There are quite a few children in our community and it makes it especially difficult for the youth: they have no friends who are believers.

These camps were prepared with the help of Fr Jerzy Jendrzejwski (a secular priest from Poland) and two Franciscan Sisters from Kazachstan (Sisters Davida and Joanna). Two camps for little children were three days long and around 40 children aged 5-9 took part. Children were staying in the “Pro Homine” social centre in Bishkek (the capital of Kyrgyzstan), which is run by the Sisters. Our children took part in a trip to the mountains, where Holy Mass was celebrated; they also visited the Aquapark. Nuns run religion classes for them and children learnt new songs. For almost all of the children, it was their first time in a summer camp and in Bishkek.

300 km away from Bishkek, in the camp organised on the beach of Lake Toctogul, high in the Tienshan Mountains, 30 children aged 9 to14 took part. They were predominantly from villages around Bishkek, and from Bishkek and Dzalalabad.

Children swam in the lake (mornings and afternoons), went for a trip into the mountains, and took part in different sport competitions. There were religion classes twice a day organised by one of the Sisters on the theme of the Mass, and everyday they attended Holy Mass and community prayer. Bishop Nikolaus Messmer paid us a visit one of the days, and in the evenings, there were cinema screenings, discos or camp-fires.

The camp lasted for 10 days, and some of our youth helped us as the leaders.

Thirty young Catholics spent ten days in the mountains close to the Issyk-Kul Sea. Over the first days, they lived in a yourta (a traditional Kyrgyz tent), but because of the heavy rains, we had to move to the old meteorology station. We had a few trips high into the mountains. The youths – aged from 15 to 23 – prepared fire and food themselves. In meetings, we discussed subjects such as love, sex and relationships, and everyday there was a camp-fire or a fun evening with songs and community prayer.

One Polish Jesuit was Spiritual Father but he also taught climbing. We spent the last two days on the beach of Issyk-Kul. This summer camp was financially supported by the Vatican.

In July, our parish of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was

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Mountain prayers. Photo supplied by the author

Youth Camps in Kyrgyzstan The Jesuits of Kyrgyzstan are planning another series of summer camps for around 100 children and young adults – events that have been generously supported by Jesuits and Friends readers in the past. Here, Brother Damian Wojciechowski SJ reports on last year’s successes and explains why they have also bought a washing machine and a shop.

visited by two doctors from Austria, Tomas and Getraud Weggemann, who are specialists in handicapped children. This visit was organized by Fr Herwig Buechele SJ from Innsbruck.

The doctors examined about 60 children over three days, most of them with Cerebral Palsy or other serious conditions. They examined 30 small children in the city’s main hospital, and visited an orphanage where 120 children are living, most of them severely mentally and physically handicapped. One woman working there is taking care of about 25 children who spend all their lives in bed. They wanted a big new washing machine, because their Soviet machine was very old, and barely working. We bought a washing machine for this house since it would have been truly tragic for this woman if the old washing machine had broken down, because a new one costs 4000 Euro and the Ministry of Social Affairs said that they had no money for such expenses. When it is possible, visiting doctors give medicine for the sick. We want to continue this activity, but we need guest rooms, a medicine cabinet for doctors and a place for a chemist.

Last month, we bought a shop in a nearby house. The entrance is from one of the biggest streets in Dzalalabad, and we want to establish a chapel there; up till now, this has been located in our Jesuit community house. We have started the reconstruction of this room. We are also planning to buy a house to be a chapel in Osh (100 km far from Dzalalabad, the second biggest city in Kyrgyzstan). For the past two years, a priest visits this city every two weeks and says Mass in a private apartment. This causes many problems because the room is very small. It is difficult to invite strangers (such as former prisoners) to a family's house. There is no place for any catechetical classes and no place for a priest to sleep. Finally, if Catholics continue to meet in a private apartment, the development of the Catholic community will be impossible.

This summer, we plan to organize a few different camps for our children and young people. The main trouble is that every year the price of accommodation gets higher and higher, a trend that is expected to continue. It is very difficult to find cheap places or a house for their holiday. At the same time, the price of real estate is rising, and now is the very "last moment" to buy some buildings relatively cheaply. We have a plan to buy some property on the beach of the Issyk-Kul Sea . In the future, such holiday places can be used not only by Catholics from Kyrgyzstan, but also by our parishes in Kazakhstan. Already some parishes in south Kazakhstan organise a summer camp at the Issyk-Kul Sea, paying large sums for hostels. A house there could be also source of income. www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Spring 2008 Jesuits & Friends

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Volunteering David Hurst was educated at Stonyhurst and was one of the first volunteers to work with Jesuit Missions back in 1970.

He and five other 19 year olds travelled to Zimbabwe where he spent nine months at Makumbi, one of the largest Jesuit run schools. It certainly had an effect on him.

‘Go on, make a difference … ‘ I really didn’t know by the end of my year as a volunteer at Makumbi Mission school, in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia, as it was then called) if I had made any difference at all. But then, on the very day I left, something quite extraordinary happened which made it all clear.

I was begging a lift in the local hospital supply van which was driving the 60 miles to Harare to catch my flight home after three full terms teaching in the secondary school. Instead of taking the road round the back of the mission complex, the Shona driver went straight through the middle. I wondered why and asked him. He just smiled at me, knowingly.

We drove past the church, the central focus of the whole place, and on to the school playground, a large dirt area surrounded on three sides by single storey school buildings where all the girls were in class. He stopped and parked the van. On some invisible signal, all 200 or so of the Shona girls ranging from ages 12 to 17 ran from their five classrooms screaming, cheering, waving and surrounding the van, shouting their goodbyes to me.

I cried quite openly then and I still cry now every time I think of this incident. I think maybe, just perhaps, I had made some little difference to their lives - and they most certainly had made a huge and eternal difference to mine. I am sure that anyone who has helped with third world voluntary work, in whatever way, will tell you that you get far more out of the experience than you ever put in - and you could experience this fulfillment too.

At the age of 19, and totally green from just leaving school myself, this one year gave me so many life changing experiences that built a perspective that has never left me. When you teach physics to 15 year olds using billiard balls to illustrate kinetic energy and at question time you are asked ‘please, sir, what are billiard balls?’, when you teach vectors using sailing as an application and you are told by your whole class that they have never seen the sea let alone a yacht, when you are a hero for killing a snake in your classroom with a broomstick to be then told that one bite from a boomslanger has no cure, when a 14 year old girl sobs tears in front of you after calling her a ‘silly woman’ for getting a question wrong because she protests that she is not a woman yet, but really is still a virgin, then you know that you really are from a different planet!

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Then

Then, sometimes, the girls would really surprise me. The joke that a group planned themselves and played on me on April Fool’s Day was perfection itself and the best laugh I have ever had. Who would have thought they had it in them? But that is another story.

Outside the classroom other salutary lessons were learned around everyday situations. As David Hurst in Zimbabwe, 1970. honorary captain of the Photos supplied by author Makumbi Mission football team, the Red Bombers, they were all fitter and faster than me, even playing barefoot! But the richest pair of brothers on the team had one pair of football boots between them: one wore his on the left foot and the other wore his on the right foot. And when we beat Chief Chinamora’s XI in the annual local Derby match, I was carried off the sandy pitch shoulder high for scoring the winning goal. Eat your heart out David Beckham!

Amongst numerous other tasks during this time, I was a teacher of O level English, maths and physics (unqualified - but I had just passed the A levels), debating chairman: ‘This house believes that village medicine men are better than western doctors’, swimming instructor and DJ. I also helped with vaccinations for the little ones on ‘measles Sunday’, acted as altar server taking communion to surrounding villages, stirred vats full of sadza, laid rondavel hut floors on hands and knees using warm cow dung and drank chibuku beer with local village elders.

One final powerful memory: the girls always were happy and smiling - even though they had so little material wealth. When I entered a classroom looking somewhat glum they would say to me, ‘Sir, be happy, the sun is shining and God loves you’. How simple yet profound is that! And all this was before the Gap Year had even been invented. If you want to learn more about life, and yourself, and really make a difference as a volunteer with Jesuit Missions, then you know what you have to do …

AndNow Karen Partyka, a former student of St Aloysius’ College in Glasgow, has been working as a volunteer in Nyakahoja School in Mwanza, Tanzania, since last September. As her placement draws to a close, what has the experience taught her?

Changing my home from Bishopbriggs to life in this part of Africa has brought so many differences. I have had to get used to the electricity and water going off regularly with no warning, as well as depositing rubbish at a roadside dump.

Those changes I get used to but it is more difficult to come to terms with children living on the streets. It is impossible to go shopping without walking past elderly beggars who have lost fingers and toes to leprosy. The poverty is pretty extreme. No wonder they imagine all white people are rich without limit. Overall this is a very different life but it is good to learn about new cultures.

My main work is in two locations: a Catholic Primary School and an orphanage run by a British couple.

The Nyakahoja Primary School is run by a local order of Sisters. It is one of the best schools in the area and, as expected, has a waiting list. I love teaching there. It is quite different from teaching in Glasgow where I am a secondary school teacher. In Scotland the biggest worry for new teachers is often over the indiscipline of some pupils. Well, in Mwanza, indiscipline does not exist. The children just want to learn and the job of teaching is so much easier. In fact the only discipline problem is that sometimes the children are a little chatty. As soon as I say it is time to start the lesson, however, the chatting stops. My class has 50 pupils and it is a tight squeeze but we have fun. The children are so respectful and do anything I say. They come from a range of backgrounds, from very poor to relatively well off. Every one of them knows, nonetheless, that education is their way forward, the answer to bringing everyone out of poverty and helping improve their prospects for the future. It inspires me to help them as much as possible to achieve their dreams.

Forever Angels (F.A.) is the orphanage where I volunteer.

It was set up by a British couple who saw the need for a good orphanage in Mwanza. It has a fantastic website and whenever I go online I love looking at the photographs of the children. The orphanage caters for children from newborn up to age five when they are moved onto another orphanage. I enjoy more than ever my time at F.A. and it allows me to see the other side of life in Tanzania. These children have not had a good start in life. Some have been abandoned, others are orphans, some have families who are unable to care for them. Considering all their stories, it is such a surprise to hear nothing but laughter at the orphanage and to see the children having so much fun.

There are 31 children, from baby Juma who is ten weeks

Helping the children achieve their dreams. Karen in Tanzania.

Photo supplied by author

old to Joseph who is four years old. F.A. is a joyful and colourful place where you can see the children are content and happy. It is a place that gives these young children the hope of a better future and I am glad I have spent time there helping to give them a proper opportunity in life.

Living in Mwanza has taught me a lot of things and made me look at myself and my home in Glasgow differently. I can see now how life is precious. I do not know what tomorrow will bring but I know that I have to trust in God. For me prayer has become the answer to everything and I have learned from my own experience that God will give me answers, even if I do not, at first, like them. Africa has taught me that everybody has a duty and responsibility to help our neighbour and that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. When you think about it, you see that everyone has problems and we should be there to help others, trusting that they will be there in turn in our time of need.

In the Lord’s eyes we are all his children: every race, colour, nationality.

Often what my parish priest told me one day crops up in my head during my time here in Mwanza, especially when I see suffering or am not sure about what to do when confronted with problems that are hard to face.

“The meaning of life”, he said, “is to be like God.” www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Spring 2008 Jesuits & Friends

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Triumph Of Faith and Love in Southern Africa When

Bishop

Crispian

Hollis

of

Portsmouth

accompanied

Cardinal

Cormac

Murphy-O’Connor to Southern Africa in January, he had little doubt that the centrepiece of their visit was going to be the 36 hours that they were going to spend in Zimbabwe. But it started in Durban in South Africa, where they first visited an Aids hospice, in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, before moving on, under the auspices of CAFOD, to Pietermaritzburg. ooner or later, almost every conversation in Southern Africa will come round to the question of HIV Aids and the pandemic that it represents in the countries. Estimates differ about the number of people infected but it is almost never less than 25% of the population and this figure, of course, includes many children who are orphans, their parents having died of Aids-related illnesses. HIV Aids represents a tragic spectre that haunts the people.

It is easily said that no one dies of Aids – and that can well be true now in the UK. Anti retroviral (ARV) drugs are available and at reasonable prices but their effectiveness depends on early diagnosis, a regular and sustaining diet and a capacity for a reasonably regular lifestyle. Our visits that afternoon to three or four homes in one of the townships soon demonstrated to us that those conditions are rarely those which govern the lives of the poor. We visited one home where the head of the household was an old granny and the family lived off her meagre pension. Food was scarce, the home conditions were very poor and all the surviving members of the family – about ten altogether – were HIV Aids infected. There was precious little long-term hope there – and yet, South Africa is a relatively prosperous country.

We returned to Durban quite chastened by our experience but we had seen at first hand some of the pastoral problems that affect our brother bishops in that country. Incidentally, the Catholic Church in South Africa is one of the most effective sources of the ARV drugs but it can often seem like only a drop in the ocean.

On the Tuesday, we flew to Johannesburg, changed planes and then went on to Zimbabwe and its capital, Harare. Harare’s socalled International Airport is, I imagine, a little like the Marie Celeste. All the buildings and equipment are there but except when a plane comes or goes, there’s scarcely anyone around.

When I was last in Harare some two years ago, I went to Mass on the Sunday that I was there in a township called Mbare. This had been one of the communities that had been devastated by the regime some months before and devastation had meant the bulldozing of all the shanty dwellings and the premises of the street traders who are such a feature of township life in Zimbabwe. People’s homes and livelihoods had been ruthlessly destroyed by the police and the military – and why? It is said that this was one of the areas of population which had dared to voice opposition through the ballot box to the re-election of President Robert Mugabe.

To visit this township again two years on was a desperately sobering experience. If things were bad two years ago, they are far worse now. We spent an hour listening to Fr Konrad

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Bishop Hollis (right) and the Cardinal discuss the Aids pandemic with Sister Margaret McAllen LCM during their trip to Southern Africa. Credit: Alexander DesForges

Landsberg, a German Jesuit who was the parish priest, hearing how he ministered to his people who were hungry, homeless and diseased. It was one of the most moving moments of the whole journey, experiencing how faith and love can triumph over almost all adversity and suffering. I, for one, do not know how I could possibly survive as a pastor in such seemingly hopeless conditions and yet, here was faith, courage, optimism and hope. When we drove away to our next visit, the cars were silent and we each had to try to absorb and make sense of all that we had seen and heard.

I mentioned the presence in South Africa of countless orphans.

If anything the situation in Zimbabwe is worse. But as one would expect, the Church is at the heart of the care and love of the poor.

We went to a hospice, run by an Irish Sister of the Little Company of Mary – the Blue Nuns - founded by Mary Potter who hailed from Southsea. As well as the hospice for children infected with HIV Aids that she supervises, she administers a team of about 70 workers who care for the orphans on the streets and in their socalled homes. It is an extraordinary, beautiful and loving work which seeks to bring comfort and nursing to the poorest of the poor and again, we were left speechless by what we saw and heard. It was quite hard to go back to a relatively normal lunch.

The Cathedral in Harare is still run by British Jesuits and together with Archbishop Robert Ndlovu we celebrated Mass there in the evening with Cardinal Cormac as the preacher. We were not there to conduct a political campaign against a ruthless regime, but we were there to stand alongside our brothers and sisters who are suffering with such courage and in such poverty and it was a privilege to be able to do so.

MUSIC FOR LIFE Proclaiming a gospel of life and hope

by Danielle Vella he idea to record a song for World Aids Day was set in motion by Jesuit Missions UK. Renowned professionals Lee Ward and Chris Birkett travelled to Zimbabwe to record the the Makumbi children, whose voices were then added to those of the schola of the London Oratory School.

Joseph Arimoso SJ from Zimbabwe organised the Makumbi choir. “It was amazing how Chris and Lee fine-tuned the choir in a short time. It was a hectic three days, amid power cuts, but everything went well and the children were very excited,” he said. “The recording gave them, although not all were directly affected by HIV, the recording gave them the chance not just to receive sympathy but to be themselves, to rediscover their gifts, and to share a story of hope with the rest of the world.”

At first glance, music may not seem to offer much in the struggle against Aids. Then again, quite apart from its beauty, music is a much-loved and universally understood tool of communications in Africa. “Music is both entertainment and a way of learning. It allows us to proclaim the Gospel of life and hope to young people,” says Martin Bahati SJ, former coordinator of Parlons-SIDA (Let’s Talk about Aids), a care and prevention project run by a Jesuit parish in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo. Parlons-SIDA organises concerts that draw up to 9,000 people. “By going into the world of youth through their window, we hope to leave by our door of protection, awareness, education and human dignity.”

Creative means of communication are part of the comprehensive approach encouraged by the African Jesuit Aids Network (AJAN). “Aids is such a complex reality, touching every dimension of human life, and so the response has to be equally broad,” says Michael Czerny SJ, AJAN Coordinator. “We try to encourage Jesuits to respond wherever they are, in whatever they’re doing. For example, a Malawian Jesuit with talent in music has written songs and recorded a CD, and that’s his way of promoting awareness.”

Choose Life, the CD composed and produced by Wilfred Sumani SJ, reaches people unable to benefit from prevention initiatives because they cannot read. In Malawi, roughly 37% of the adult population is illiterate. “Music can be a way of reaching out to everyone,” he says. “I used the three main Malawian languages, Chichewa, Yao and Tumbuka, so people can easily relate to the songs.”

Another young Jesuit who put his message to music is Elias Mokua SJ from Kenya. His song, Ukimwi: Mama Yangu – Aids, My Mother depicts the bewildered misery of a newly orphaned child: Aids, they tell me you took my mother away, where did you put her? People call me an orphan: what does this mean?

One out of every three or four children in Zimbabwe is an Aids orphan. Some of the abandoned ones live in orphanages like Makumbi Children’s Home, part of a Jesuit mission of the same name situated around 100km northeast of Harare. Around 100 children live there; some are HIV-positive. In November last year, a choir of 30 children from Makumbi sang its way into the homes and hearts of people in the UK, with the recording of a fund-raising single Makandifira (You died for us) Silent Night, a blend of a traditional Christmas carol and Shona lament.

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The Makumbi Choir. Credit: Chris Birkett

Br Mokua drew inspiration from orphans related to him: “Children are the hardest hit when a parent dies. They are left with a vacuum they have no idea how to fill.” People living with HIV and Aids love the song, “I haven’t had the courage to ask why”, admits the Kenyan Jesuit.

In mid-2006, Br Elias, then director of Radio Kwizera, a radio station run by the Jesuit Refugee Service in western Tanzania, organised a festival featuring 15 choirs from Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya performing songs about HIV/Aids. Over two million people tuned in to listen. “You tell people, we are going to sing about Aids and everyone comes,” says Br Elias. “People want a forum where they can express themselves.”

Similar things happen at Chikuni Radio, a community radio station run by Chikuni mission in rural Zambia. Director Andrzej Lesniara SJ said: “It was on radio that people first came out in the open about their HIV status. Before, there was no platform from where people could speak about Aids, a taboo subject.” Chikuni Radio organises annual concerts with musicians performing their own songs based on social themes. In 2007, over 95 bands and musicians performed before a crowd of some 10,000 people.

Using music to spread information and hope helps people to accept and to manage the reality of Aids. “In a sense, we take Aids out of the narrowly medical field and help people to see that it is, sad to say, part of life in Africa,” says Fr Michael Czerny of AJAN. “We need to learn to live with it and to confront it in every way possible. Music says more, and more deeply, than words alone, but not only sorrow and suffering.

With music people testify that Aids hasn’t the last word – faith, hope and love do!” www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Spring 2008 Jesuits & Friends

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‘THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SCHOOL IN INDIA’...

4 December 2007 saw the opening of Loyola Primary School in Karnataka State and marked the successful end of stage one of the Wimbledon College Southern India Project.

Project Leader, Sharon Wheatley, writes. he project began in 2003 when four teachers took a party of students to Pannur, a rural village in one of the poorest regions in South India. There three Jesuit priests were working to empower the local Dalit population. The term Dalit means ‘broken people’; they are literally the outcastes of Indian society and in addition to the problems of poverty suffer from systematic discrimination and persecution. The Jesuits of Pannur decided to prioritise their work around raising the status of women and children and their long term plan was to build an English medium school.

60% of Dalit children leave school before they are 11 years old. In Pannur and surrounding villages, the primary education available to all children is rudimentary; there are problems attracting teachers to rural areas and in Pannur there is one teacher for four classes. Five years ago, many Dalit children were not attending school at all, some had been sold into bonded labour by their cash strapped parents to raise money to pay for the dowries of their daughters, and many others worked in the fields or looked after cattle to supplement the meagre wages of their families.

German Jesuits had given money to buy land in the nearby town of Manvi. This was sufficient to build a primary and secondary school and possibly a college for vocational

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training. Impressed and moved by what we had witnessed, Wimbledon College undertook to raise money to build the schools.

For the past five years students, teachers and friends of the College have set about numerous fundraising activities. £120,000 was raised during this time and this has been sufficient to build the primary school which currently has 450 students (200 live on site in a hostel built at the same time).The school has been operating in difficult circumstances and temporary accommodation since 2004 but in December 2007 it was officially opened by the Bishop of Gulbarga.

The Provincial, Fr Michael Holman SJ, former Headmaster of Wimbledon College, and I, were both present at the celebrations. After the Mass and speeches all of the pupils participated in a cultural programme of dance and song. Over 2,000 parents and local people joined in with the celebrations and all were fed amongst scenes which brought loaves and fishes to mind.

The school is a very striking three storey structure built around a central atrium. The classrooms are large, bright and airy. One room is fully equipped with computers, and the gift from Wimbledon College was a projector. This signified the changes made during this period: five years ago the children were being taught under the shade of a tree, their only equipment a slate

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and chalk, now they have a fully functional school with books and computers. The children love their school and one of them told me: ‘My school is the most beautiful school in India’.

The next stage of the project is the building of the secondary school.

Together the two schools will provide education and training for 2,000 children. The cost of the school will be £250,000, some of which has been promised by the British Province and the balance of which will come from the continued efforts of Wimbledon College.

In addition to fundraising the College has continued to take students and teachers to India for a month during the summer. Over 100 people have had the opportunity to participate in this life-changing experience. It has had a profound and significant effect on all who visit and some students have re-thought their future career choices because of it. Some students will be going out for their fourth visit this summer and others have led their own

groups from university to work on the project. It has proven to be a unique opportunity to live and work alongside some of the poorest people in the world and to learn that we have so much in common and that we can achieve so much in partnership.

If you would like to find out more about the project or contribute to our work please visit our website: http://projectmanvi.googlepages.com

Pictures from top to bottom: From foundations Photos: Sharon Wheatley

To building site To finished school From slate and chalk To proud pupils

NOW AVAILABLE International Handbook of Catholic Education Challenges for School Systems in the 21st Century, edited by Prof Gerald Grace and Prof Joseph O’Keefe SJ. In two volumes: The Americas and Europe / Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia.

With growing international interest in the significance of faith-based educational systems worldwide, this handbook will provide a vital resource for academics and researchers, educators, school-leaders and postgraduate students.

Publ: Springer, ISBN 978-1-4020-4804-3. Price ÂŁ307

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Stage: Giving Even More at Lourdes This year, the shrine of Lourdes celebrates a very special anniversary – 150 years since Our Lady appeared to a sick peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous. Matt Betts is an alumnus of Stonyhurst College and is now the Secretary to the Catholic Association Hospitalité, having been volunteering in Lourdes for a number of years. In August 2007, he joined the Hospitalité Notre Dame after his five years of Stage. uring one of the Our Lady’s apparitions to Saint Bernadette in 1858, she asked that people come in procession to the Grotto and ever since then there has been a ‘ministry of welcome’ in Lourdes, receiving and caring for all the pilgrims who come to the apparition site, especially the sick and infirm. Bernadette described how Our Lady smiled at her ‘as one person would to another,’ and this smile of welcome is today extended to six million visitors a year by the volunteers who work in the sanctuaries of Lourdes. The largest group of volunteers (16,000 of them) is known as the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes (Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes). In the past a ‘Hospitality’ was a charitable organisation whose aim was to gather, accommodate and feed the less fortunate in a hostel or hospital. Today the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes (HNDL) builds on that tradition, welcoming pilgrims to Lourdes (especially, but not only, the sick and disabled), and assisting at religious ceremonies.

I originally visited the shrine in 1997, as a part of the Stonyhurst College annual pilgrimage to Lourdes (which joins the Catholic Association Pilgrimage). It was a mixed experience for me, but I promised I would return the following year and 1998 turned out to be such a special year, I’ve been coming back ever since! Although I enjoyed the work on the CA Pilgrimage, I was always keen to add to my experiences as well and had heard that it was possible to do an extra week in Lourdes, known as a Stage. A few of our members were already doing Stage and so I decided to find out more and have been doing it ever since.

Stage offers tremendous satisfaction and opportunities to enjoy life in a group. The week is also physically tiring! Since I started, I work in the St Joseph’s section of Stage, with quite a large CA group, including Fr Nicholas King SJ. The men's group does a wide variety of work. For our first four years we work in teams of about a dozen people of mixed age and nationality. A team coordinator, known as the Chef d'Equipe leads the group and his job is to find out what daily duties his team has to do, to ensure that no one is asked to do anything beyond their ability, to instruct the group practically and to ensure that everybody turns up for their tasks.

Generally, in the St Joseph’s section we get an opportunity to try our hand at most things during the week, since jobs are rotated. The tasks we are normally asked to do include loading and unloading sick visitors from the train station (we spend most of our time doing this, since the English have a

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Stonyhurst helpers at Lourdes. Credit: Stonyhurst Association

reputation for being very good at it, though we sometimes have to use unorthodox methods when confronted by out of date rolling stock), organising processions, crowd control and organizing the international Mass. The hours can either be quite few, or very long, depending on the times of trains and aircraft, and how many pilgrimages are in Lourdes on any given day.

After the reception year and three stages of formation Christians can apply in their 4th year to make an engagement into the Hospitalité. The following year (5th), after approval from the Council, we are presented with a silver medal on blue ribbon, when we voluntarily make a promise to commit ourselves to the service of the sick, specifically by coming on stage regularly. This medal is a dedication, not a decoration, and a sign that we are at the service of anyone who may call on us in Lourdes. This isn’t the end of our service, but the beginning of a deeper commitment.

I am so pleased that I decided to try out Stage a few years ago – there is a great group feeling and a real spirit of hospitality and camaraderie. It was definitely one of my best choices and I am looking forward to continuing my service for many years to come. I would recommend a Stage to anyone who is interested in trying something new in Lourdes and I look forward to welcoming you to this fascinating service!

Several Jesuit schools have Stage groups For further information, please contact Matt on m.betts@catholicassociation.co.uk

those whose lives

‘have no use’ Phelim McGowan SJ writes on his experience as Chaplain in a Neurological Hospital.

Photos supplied by the author

Working with

Holy Cross Hospital, run by the Daughters of the Cross, is an independent, but not private hospital. It accommodates NHS patients through contractual arrangements, but is not strictly part of the NHS. At one time it was a 110 bedded cottage hospital of general nursing and cared for 14 long term neurological patients transferred from the Atkinson Morley Hospital which was then located in Wimbledon.

n 1983 the Registering Authority hinted that the Holy Cross Hospital building was considered to be too old for its purpose. After much prayer and discussion, the Sisters judged that the neurological patients were the most vulnerable and they decided to go ahead and try to build a completely new hospital for them. The new building consisting of 40 single rooms was begun in 1991 and the following year the patients were transferred to their new “home”.

Holy Cross Neurological Hospital, therefore, is a very special place. The patients are people whose lives have changed beyond all recognition, due to severe brain damage or neurological disorder, and most of them will carry these disabilities for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of them are young people whose incapacity is the result of road accidents or accidents that occurred in their place of work.

uplifting. I am conscious always that the patient’s dignity must be respected at all times. Communication is one area of difficulty. Often it is not possible to know whether the patient understands what I am saying, or, conversely, I am not able to understand what the patient is saying.

Furthermore, many of them are not Catholics or Christians and I need to be sensitive to how and when I pray with them.

The norm on my daily round of visiting is to knock on the door of a patient’s room. (The doors are always left open unless a person is being attended by one of the medical staff.) I talk about various events of the day or items of news, praying when I think it is appropriate and, having thanked them for their welcome and time, take my leave.

I generally celebrate Mass in the hospital on Saturday mornings.

Challenges of Communication

Working Together

The needs of such patients are complex and unrelenting and require great will power and determination from the patients themselves as well as a great deal of specialised expertise and skill from those who care for them. Patients are totally dependent on the staff i.e. medical, ancillary, domestic, and myself as Chaplain for love and care. About 90% of the patients cannot speak or move or do anything for themselves and we have to become their eyes, hands and feet.

Most of us find it easy to communicate with others and are able to express our opinions. We can carry out everyday tasks, like drawing the curtains, turning on the television and so on, without even thinking about it. But not everybody can do these things. For some of our patients it is incredibly difficult and for others impossible. Though modern technology may frustrate many of us, it has enabled the development of numerous aids and support tools without which some of our patients could not survive and which allow some of our incapacitated patients some limited autonomy.

From a pastoral point of view this apostolate is both challenging and rewarding; it is spiritually humbling and

Support for the family of the patient is essential. Admission to Holy Cross is a difficult time for both the patients and for their families. They are all very vulnerable and needy in the weeks and months immediately following the patient’s arrival as they come to terms with the implications of the situation.

But maintaining contact and giving support to the families of patients is important and on-going and it is particularly pertinent when a patient dies. It is not uncommon for patients who have been long-time residents to die quite suddenly.

In all our efforts, working together, all of us do our best to bring some normality into the lives of the patients and their families. Faced with patients with lives that the “world” deems of no use, we focus our love and energies on all that can be done to enrich those lives “through” rather than “in spite of” the burdens they carry. I never fail to be impressed by the dedication, genuine love and concern of all the staff (medical and domestic) for the patients under their care. Not infrequently, I eat with the staff in the canteen and engage in conversation over a meal, an experience which I hope provides mutual support. I see support for the staff as an essential part of my pastoral role and I am privileged to be here.

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THINKING FAITH Ged Clapson on the Province’s latest engagement with contemporary issues and technology ver since the Society of Jesus was founded over 460 years ago, it has had a reputation for intellectual rigour and engagement in debates about contemporary issues. This tradition was taken to a new level by Jesuit Media Initiatives at the beginning of this year with the launch of the British Jesuits’ new online journal, Thinking Faith.

The idea to launch Thinking Faith emerged through both necessity and opportunity. Since the final edition of The Month in April 2001, the British Province had been without a channel to publish in-depth articles by both Jesuits and invited guests on current concerns in society and the Church. Whether those issues involved ethics or education, integrity or interfaith relations, politics or papal pronouncements, science or spirituality, the Society of Jesus had always been acknowledged as an important contributor within the Faith communities – and the Catholic Church in particular – to any such debate. But the absence of a regular publication from the Society in Britain limited their chances of engaging in those debates.

The opportunity came in the form of technological advances that – even over the ensuing six years – were phenomenal. Within less than a decade, mobile, global and instant communication had become the norm. The integration of computers and the internet into everyday life had infiltrated almost every aspect of our existence – a fact that was recognised by the British Jesuits and led directly to the establishment of Jesuit Media Initiatives (JMI). Their first project was pray-as-you-go, the downloadable daily reflection for commuters which has become a worldwide phenomenon, with more than 4.5 million sessions downloaded

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Encyclopaedia of the Guyanese Amerindians Including other South American Native terms, issues, and events.

by Lal Balkaran A new reference book on Guyanese Amerindians containing over 7,000 entries and 40 photographs, as well as thumbnail sketches of famous Jesuit missionaries. Lal Balkaran’s Encyclopaedia of the Guyanese Amerindians covers all nine tribes currently living in Guyana who have woven colourful stories to explain a range of notions such as: creation myths; flora and fauna; the forces of nature; other tribes; the environment; origin of strife; and much more. The book contains a fascinating collection of legends, myths, folklore, and other issues and events relating to Amerindians in Guyana.

ISBN 978 0 9735545 5 7 65 Canadian dollars: www: lbapublications.com

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Bishop John Arnold of Westminster activates the Thinking Faith website at its launch on 18 January 2008. Father Peter Scally SJ looks on. Photo credit: Ged Clapson

since March 2006. Once established, JMI’s Director, Fr Peter Scally, turned his attention to developing Thinking Faith.

There was a long debate over its format, and it was eventually agreed that it should have a ‘rolling format’, meaning that it was not restricted by publication dates: articles could be posted as and when they were required – particularly in response to breaking news stories or matters of concern entering the agenda unexpectedly. This proved particularly useful within a week or so of the launch of Thinking Faith when reports that Catholic parents were getting their children baptised later and an apparent link with schools admissions started filling the British media.

However, articles are available in PDF format as well, so they can be printed off for those who still prefer to read from paper as opposed to a computer monitor.

There were also discussions about subscription – not just the financial ramifications but also the need to be able to maintain some kind of database of readers so that JMI can continue to respond to their needs. Once again, technology provided the solution: people who wish to subscribe can do so online, at no cost, and receive automatic notification via email whenever a new article is uploaded onto the Thinking Faith site.

Within its first week, over 3,000 unique visitors had visited the Thinking Faith website, with more than 10% of them becoming subscribers. It is refreshed daily with a news feed from Independent Catholic News, and the target is to post two to three new articles on the site every week. These include not only items of a deeply theological nature but also contributions to current debates and issues from a British and European (and sometimes worldwide) perspective. The site will also reflect the Liturgical Year and provide reflective film and book reviews, social comment and political analysis.

“Thinking Faith develops for the 21st century the tradition established by St Ignatius Loyola and the first Companions”, said Father Peter Scally. “What makes this so exciting is the immediacy and the reach that are now available to us. Modern technology provides us with amazing opportunities to proclaim the Gospel, to engage in debates with social, religious and political leaders, and to ensure that the Church’s voice is heard in these debates. The internet in particular is the contemporary mission field and Thinking Faith is one of our vehicles for working in it.”

Visit the Thinking Faith web site: www.thinkingfaith.org

GOOD NEWS AMONG A REMOTE, GENTLE PEOPLE Last year, Fr Nicholas King SJ, who lectures in Scripture at Campion Hall, Oxford, was invited to Guyana, to assist with the translation into Patamona of the New Testament. The following is adapted from an interview with the editor of Trefoil in South Africa. ome of the Jesuits in Guyana work in the interior, with the Amerindian peoples, and one of them in particular, Fr Paul Martin, has become involved with an ecumenical project to translate the New Testament into Patamona, one of the languages of the Carib nations. They used as a basis the Good News English version, and what they were doing was to revise a translation that had been made some 40 years ago. So they have done a good deal of the work, and my task seemed to be two-fold. The first was simply to give them a presentation on various words and concepts that had caused them difficulty in doing the translation. And it was not a team of experts that had assembled there, but good Christians, who had a good knowledge of both English and Patamona, and had a certain amount of rudimentary training in translation. The thing is that they live in the interior, where education is highly valued, but the resources are lacking.

The second thing that we did was to get them to do “back-translations” into English of what they had done in Patamona, which I then checked against the Greek, suggesting alternative approaches where necessary. It is a slow business, but very interesting. The main thing that we achieved during the few days of the workshop was to produce a translation of the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel, in a leaflet form to be distributed in time for Christmas, along with some questions for discussion. It was a fascinating business, listening to them talking about what would work in their Christian communities.

The other aspect of the matter is that it would help them to work on a literacy project, encouraging local people to read and write in their own language, at a time when their culture is under very considerable threat, from Brazil in the East and Venezuela in the North.

The Amerindians, the original inhabitants of the Americas from before the time of Columbus, the ones with whom I was working, are now forced to live in the interior, in the rainforest and the high savannah. They operate mainly as subsistence farmers, and the only other jobs available are for teachers and nurses; but they require education, and that means doing well at school (which is not easy), and making the trip to Georgetown.

They are a lovely, gentle people, and live an ancient form of existence that is under threat today from the pressures

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Nick King helps explain ‘the Word’. Photo supplied by the author

of Western “civilisation”. They are also very remote. We got into the interior by flying on a rather frail aircraft onto a runway hacked out of the forest; and when I returned, by plane once more, my fellow-Jesuit was setting off to his next parish community. It would take him two days on foot, and he would sleep that night in the rainforest, on a hammock stretched out between two trees, doing what he could to keep the snakes and mosquitoes at bay. It is another world, and a very attractive one.

GUYANESE STAMPS – WE’RE STILL WAITING! Apologies to all those Jesuits and Friends readers who applied for the special issue of three stamps commemorating the Jesuits’ 150 years in Guyana, as advertised in Issue 68. Sadly, their production was delayed and we are still waiting for them to be printed and delivered.

As soon as we receive them, you will be informed.

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Personal Goals – Bearing Witness – Raising Funds Yes, It Must Be The London Marathon Again!

Jesuit Missions’ Assistant Director, Alan Fernandes, assesses this year’s prospects

ore than five marathons or 140 miles - that’s how far each of our runners will run on average in the three months leading up to the Flora London Marathon this year. Last year the runners trained through the cold and dark mornings and nights of winter, only to be greeted with a heatwave on race day.

It is a huge commitment to take on running a marathon, especially if you have not run even a half marathon previously. Of the 30,000 runners who take part in the marathon some are running to achieve a personal goal, others to beat a friend, but the majority will be aiming to raise funds for a whole host of worthy charities, and each year we get enquiries from runners asking if they can run for Jesuit Missions. They are looking to raise funds and awareness of Jesuit Missions, but specifically to bear witness to the needs of the overseas mission through their fundraising and awareness-raising that go hand-in-hand with running the London Marathon.

This year we have a record-breaking six Jesuits on the team including our Director Fr Tim Curtis, who aims to run his first marathon at the age of 54. He says he has been out running almost every day at 5am, and as this article goes to print, he should be taking part in his first team training run, so we can find out just how well his training is going. The team this year also includes former XVP overseas volunteers, parishioners, staff and students from Jesuit schools and benefactors. We also have two runners who are running for the Jesuit Refugee Service in the UK and their associated works. It looks to be a very good year. The projects being supported include: • Educational projects for the Indigenous Amerindians in Guyana • St Martin's Secondary School Redevelopment, Soweto, South Africa • Jesuit Missions Fund for Zimbabwe in the present climate • St Peter's Primary, Mbare - School Facilities • Makumbi Orphanage in Zimbabwe • Media Productions in Zambia • Chikuni Mission in Zambia • St Ignatius School Development in Dadoma • Jesuit Refugee Service UK • JRS / Notre Dame Refugee Centre • Loyola High School Development - Dar er Salaam • Hartmann House Golden Jubilee Appeal, Zimbabwe • Library Resources, Kinshasa, DR of Congo You can sponsor any one of our runners/projects by sending a cheque or visiting our website at www.jesuitmissions.org.uk/londonmarathon and donating securely on-line. The race takes place on 13 April 2008 but remember the Gift Aid tax reclaim reduces to 25% on 6 April so please do get your sponsorship in early.

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Thinking of running in 2009? Race entries open on 13 April (race day) and the first 120,000 will be entered into the ballot for the public places. Make a note in your diary to submit your application. Full details on our website.

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First-time marathon runners indicated with a * * Tim Byron SJ – Chaplain at St Ignatius College, Enfield, raising funds for the work at St Ignatius School in Dodoma. * Tim Curtis SJ - Director of Jesuit Missions, Wimbledon. * Robert Dolina SJ from Slovenia is aiming to tackle the London Marathon after years of running in smaller races.

Credit: Jesuit Missions

* Jan Janoszka is supporting the work of * Dermot Dooley – Old Wimbledonian and the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the UK. volunteer in Tanzania, running as one of the Wombles to raise funds for the work in * Theodollar Kapikinyu grew up in Makumbi Mission in Zimbabwe and is Mwanze. running to raise funds for it.

Anthony Duffy is running in support of * Rosalind Kieran, a medical student in Jesuit Missions.

London and supporting overseas * Anthony Eyre was inspired by his son’s development projects. commitment to volunteer for XVP in * Liam Lynch, the second teacher from St Guyana.

Ignatius College, Enfield, who is aiming to * Terri Finch: looking forward to her first raise funds for their link school in Dadoma. marathon and raising funds for a very * Andrew Mashida, a parishioner from St worthy cause.

Anslem’s Parish in Southall, running for * Farouk Gohil will support the Notre Jesuit Missions.

Dame Refugee Centre that provides legal * John McCann, a deacon at St Wilfrid’s services to refugees.

Parish in Preston. * Raphael Gonsalves SJ, a scholastic from Guyana, has been persuaded to run in Laurence McKell, headmaster of Mount St Mary’s, in his tenth marathon and his fifth support of the work in Guyana. for Jesuit Missions! * Nick Grover, a parishioner from Wimbledon and currently a student in Stuart Mills, his first marathon for Jesuit Missions since 2000.

Bristol. * Patrick Groves, a teacher at St Ignatius * Paul Nenjerama, the headmaster of College, Enfield who is aiming to raise Hartmann House in Harare, will be raising funds for the school’s Jubilee Appeal. funds for their link school in Dadoma.

Rampe Hlobo SJ from South Africa: his * Jonathan Sharples, a teacher at third marathon for Jesuit Missions, this Stonyhurst, is supporting St Peter’s year for St Martin’s School Redevelopment Kubatana in Zimbabwe. in Soweto. * Kerry Louise Stevens is from Preston David Hurst is attempting his second and is raising funds for Jesuit Missions. marathon, raising funds for Makumbi Mission in Zimbabwe where he was a Brian Thursby-Pelham - aka the fastest Womble runner of all time - is making a volunteer in the 80s (see page 8). return to the team since his last run 10 Marlon Innis SJ, another Jesuit scholastic years ago. from Guyana, attempting his second marathon to raise funds for Guyana and For more information about the runners provide some morale for his fellow and the projects they are supporting, visit the Jesuit Missions web site. ‘novice’ runners.

I’LL GO ON SWEEPING THE CORRIDOR There is a story about St Ignatius of Loyola that resonates so well for those of us who value the Apostleship of Prayer. Ignatius was armed with a broom and was sweeping the corridor outside his room in the Jesuit house in Rome. A young man who aspired to be a Jesuit asked him what he would do if he knew that the world would come to an end in a quarter of an hour’s time! The reply of Ignatius was quite simple and forthright. “I would go on sweeping the corridor!”

If we offer each day to the Lord then, come what may, with St Ignatius, whatever we may be doing (so long as we are not consciously breaking the commandments), we are giving glory to God and God will take us as He finds us - sweeping the corridor, doing the shopping, driving the car to work, dealing with the 101 things that make up the stuff of life.

Our offering can be short and sweet: “Jesus, I offer my day to you.” Praying the Apostleship of Prayer we need to have in mind that our prayer is always united to the great prayer of Jesus in the Sacrifice of the Mass and is always offered especially for the prayer intentions of the Holy Father in Rome - all summed up in that short, simple statement of intent “Jesus, I offer my day to you” If we ever find ourselves wondering what God would want us to do today, then we should never forget that we can and do give Him honour and glory with our pots and pans and vacuum cleaners and tools and indeed with all the paraphernalia that modern living expects us to use. In the many letters and documents that we possess of St Ignatius, the phrase: “to find God in all things” occurs time and again. This is just another way of saying “I’ll go on sweeping the corridor”.

APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER PAPAL INTENTIONS April

That the Resurrection of Jesus be proclaimed with pride and confidence and that trainee priests especially in third world countries may learn to proclaim the gospel in language that can be easily understood.

May

That art and culture may reflect the value of every human being.

We ask Mary to pray for all who undertake missionary work.

June

That all Christians may grow in a loving relationship with Jesus.

For a blessing on the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec, Canada.

July

That many people may be willing to serve the Christian community.

For all young people and for the Australian World Youth Day. Michael Beattie SJ

NEWS FROM JESUIT MISSIONS JM GRANTS Jesuits Missions has been a support to Jesuits working all over the world and over the years has raised money for many different projects. Readers of Jesuits and Friends have been most generous in supporting these endeavours.

Recently, the management board have set up a system whereby Jesuits with projects overseas can apply directly to us for a grant to help them with their work. So far grants have been awarded to help a Jesuit school of philosophy send representatives to an international meeting of Jesuits, help a Zimbabwe orphanage to make a CD, buy a projector for a deaf school in Harare, provide text books for a seminary and equip a home for street children.

The management committee will be considering applications four times a year and it is our hope that with these grants we can make a difference to many Jesuits as they develop their ministries.

Details of the scheme, our criteria for making grants and an application form can be found on the Jesuit Missions web site at www.jesuitmissions.org.uk/grants

Students at the regional seminary at Chishawasha use books bought using a Jesuit Missions book grant – thanks to your generosity!

Photo credit: Tim Curtis SJ

CHANGES TO GIFT AID

The basic rate of income tax is due to change from 22% to 20% on 6 April 2008 and this will have a direct impact on Gift Aid claims, 11% REDUCTION IN reducing them from 28.2% to TAX RECLAIMS FOR CHARITIES IN 2008/09 25%. Gift Aid is the Inland Revenue’s scheme that enables Jesuit Missions and other Old Rate £100 donation charities to reclaim the basic rate + Gift Aid = £128.20 of tax on donations received from benefactors who pay tax.

New Rate Until 6 April, using Gift Aid £100 donation would increase the value of + Gift Aid = £125.00 individual gifts by 28.2%, meaning that 28.2p can be claimed for every £1 given. But from the start of the new Financial Year, a donation of £100 which is currently worth £128.20 will reduce to £125, a reduction of almost 11%.

“Gift Aid has made a huge impact on our project work overseas with 92% of the total tax reclaimed going towards the donors specified project overseas, and the balance used to support the office,” says Alan Fernandes at Jesuit Missions. “Gift Aid can be claimed on any donation however small or large providing there is a valid Gift Aid Declaration. However higher rate tax payers (who pay 40% tax) will benefit being able to claim back an extra 2% from the Inland Revenue. If you are in this tax bracket, maybe this could be an opportunity to increase your donation to offset the change.”

If you have already signed a Gift Aid Declaration, you do not need to sign a new form as the old form is still valid, but hopefully you can take the time to review your current contribution towards our work.

Full details on our website at www.jesuitmissions.org.uk/donations www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Spring 2008 Jesuits & Friends

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Pieces

BITS AND PIECES

Bits ‘n’

REDISCOVERING JESUS by Peter Edmonds SJ

New Rector at Arrupe College

This is a delightful book to use and ponder: it is full of the sort of information you would expect to find in a commentary, but it is not the verse by verse analysis which can be wearisome. Instead it is more a guide to the reader’s own prayer. The subtitle explains the book’s origins and chief features: “A pilgrim’s guide to the land, the personalities and language of Luke”. After some 30 years of teaching the New Testament to Jesuit seminarians in Africa, Peter – now back in Oxford – was invited to lead a group of varied pilgrims on a study tour based in Jerusalem. He has kept the structure of the month’s journeying through the Holy Land (a map might have been helpful) and their own deepening knowledge of Jesus through prayer and reflection.

Luke is the text chosen for study, but one of the most valuable features of the book is Peter’s assured comparison of the different Gospels. To explain their origins and chief characteristics, he takes a key incident – for instance, the arrest of Jesus – to point up the emphasis and feel of each Gospel: this is a great help and not just to the beginner. Luke he describes as the Gospel of personal relationships, and he traces Jesus’ gentle handling of the apostles and many other characters who move in and out of the story. Holding it all together is the thematic approach which allows for backtracking: Luke’s portrait of Jesus, his infancy and then his choice of training of disciples before his own passion and resurrection, and then the sending forth to continue his mission: this dovetails with Luke’s further story of the church in Acts, and indeed into the present.

The book can thus be used by an individual retreatant, or as a Lenten exercise; but it would also be ideal as a study guide for Bible reading groups. There are plenty of summaries and questions for reflection or discussion to assist this.

In Harare, Fr Simon Makuru SJ, a Malawian from the ZambiaMalawi province, has succeeded Fr Amedeus Shirima SJ, as rector of Arrupe College, the Jesuit school for philosophy and the humanities.

Since it was founded in 1994, some 400 students have studied at Arrupe College, of which 290 have been Jesuits. Among the nonJesuits were Carmelites, Redemptorists, a few religious women and some lay people. It is affiliated to both the University of Zimbabwe and the Gregorian University in Rome. It will shortly start a Master’s course. Some students of the College have recently returned to it as lecturers.

Milestones

Credit: Denis Blackledge SJ

Bishop Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth (left) and the British Provincial, Fr Michael Holman SJ, joined Fr Geoffrey Holt (centre) at the Corpus Christi Jesuit Centre in Dorset shortly before Christmas, as Fr Holt became the longest-serving British Jesuit ever. Fr Holt entered the Society of Jesus in September 1930, and taught at Mount St Mary’s College in Spinkhill and Stonyhurst College in Lancashire before becoming Assistant Archivist for the Province in 1966. He was the Province Archivist from 1986 until 1994.

Meanwhile, Brother Andrew (Atco) Atkinson celebrated his 90th birthday on 14 January, surrounded by fellow Jesuit brothers (left to right, back row), Ted Coyle, Bernard Elliot and James Hodkinson, with Ken Vance and Stephen Power in the front row.

School Visits in the Guyanese Interior

Sacred Heart Church to be rebuilt

As part of Fr Kuruvila Nalpathamkalam's work in establishing contacts with the schools in the Amerindian areas, a good will visit was carried out in the second week of the year 2008. It involved visiting the schools at Aishalton, Achiwib, Karaudarnau, Awarivanau, Maruranau, Shea, Savarivau, Katoornarib, Rupenau and Sandcreek. Interacting with the teachers and the students was the essential part of the visits. The token gifts to the teachers and the students in terms notebooks, pencils, crayons etc were indeed useful and valued by the schools. Fr Kuru plans visit to schools in the Karasabai and Pakaraimas areas in the near future.

Bishop Francis Alleyne OSB of Georgetown has given permission for the reconstruction of Sacred Heart Church. The 134-year-old wooden church that had previously stood on the site was destroyed by a fire on Christmas Day 2004. The nearby Jesuit residence and Sacred Heart public school were also lost in the blaze. If you wish to support the rebuilding of Sacred Heart Church in Georgetown, donations can be sent to Jesuit Missions.

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The first stage in the process of entering the Society of Jesus is to apply to enter the Candidacy Programme. 19-year-old university student, Richard DeNobrega, has done just that in Guyana. Here he explains why.

I believe that we are all called. For me, I believe that (I’ll use the image of a radio here) God is always on a specific station calling you, but unless you are tuned in, you would fail to hear his call. In doing so, you’ll be required, like me, to have someone or some events to get you in tune with the Lord.

These ‘tune-ups’ came with, firstly my transfer to the Marian Academy (a Catholic School in Guyana). This, in retrospect, was pivotal because we all know Mary’s powerful intercession, especially when it comes to the heralding of sheep for her son’s flock. In my case, this divine Shepherd had to use a whip to get my attention, and, as I know now, keep and maintain my attention.

The second tune-up came when I was asked to go to the village of Kurukabaru, during the summer of 2006 to assist a Lubert who was going there to teach the Amerindians the basics of the computer. The trip to Kurukabaru was a great one and many hurdles were surpassed by the Grace of God. I totally enjoyed teaching the Amerindians there and it was a trip that yielded the achievement of many ‘firsts’: the first time using a Kerosene stove, first time ever climbing so many mountains, first time saying the Rosary in such a large group and even the first time addressing a congregation. It was also the trip that I wrote my letter to the Regional Superior of the Jesuits, requesting acceptance to the Candidacy Programme. This decision of course, required much thought and I was guided by a Jesuit, Fr Malcolm Rodrigues SJ. I saw him at a cricket match, and I thought to myself, he seemed like an outgoing person, being a very energetic person myself, I reckoned he would be a suitable person for me to talk to. This was another major ‘tune-up’.

I chose the Jesuits for many reasons. One of the reasons is that I am very energetic and during my final year at the Marian Academy especially, my teacher and good friend, Mr Lloyd King kept mesmerizing me with stories of his experiences with Jesuits in the interior locations of Guyana. He was, and still is, a very pivotal figure along my vocation journey because he answered many of my questions and gives me a lot of wellneeded encouragement.

Photo supplied by the author

The plethora of experiences that I have had during my journey so far with my trips to Kurukabaru and other villages in the North Pakaraimas along with numerous joyful occasions with youths around my diocese is the fuel that keeps me going. I mentioned the latter because, along with my submission to God’s call, have come numerous opportunities to interact and learn from young people. Moreover, the engagement of one’s self with youth activities such as retreats, sports days and other activities serves me well and certainly helps in the discernment process. It is the uncertainties of my vocation journey that have kept me going. Of course, it hasn’t always been easy. I have had to face many situations with my friends because they can’t seem to fathom my choice to be a priest. At those moments however, I beg the Lord’s Guidance over my answers. What has also been very inspirational and very intriguing is when I read The Fifth Week by William O’Malley. The stories of past Jesuits are exceedingly exciting and at the same time educational. The lives of these Jesuits intrigue me greatly and they are the impetus that drives my thoughts and aspirations for the future.

What has been the impetus along the way so far? It has to be God. However, it helps me greatly when I ask questions and I certainly do a lot of asking. It was questions that led to me choosing the Jesuits and it is questions that continue to be my greatest asset. I was recently part of a retreat and my director was an Indian Scholastic. I saw this as an opportunity for great interrogation both outward and inward. The more questions that are asked mean the more questions that are answered and this means the discernment process is made easier.

Britain Fr Matthew Power SJ Loyola Hall, Warrington Road If you would like more information about Prescot life as a priest or brother in the Society of L35 6NZ T: + 44 (0) 151 4264137 Jesus, please contact: E: matthew.power@jesuits.net

JESUIT VOCATIONS

South Africa Fr Russell Pollitt SJ Holy Trinity, PO Box 31087 Johannesburg 2017 South Africa T: +27 (0)11 339 2826 E: rp@sj.org.za

Guyana Fr Joaquim de Melo Jesuit Residence PO Box 10720 Georgetown T: +592 22 67461 E: joaquimjr7@yahoo.com

www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Spring 2008 Jesuits & Friends

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DEATHS & OBITUARIES Fr Robert Bulbeck SJ Robert Bulbeck was born in Golders Green, London on 16 May 1914. His education included Mount St Mary’s College near Sheffield, and he entered the noviciate of the Society of Jesus at Roehampton on 7 September 1932. He studied Philosophy at Saint Helier in Jersey, and Theology at Heythrop College, Oxon, and his first assignments after ordination in 1946 were as a teacher at St Aloysius College, Glasgow, and Barlborough Hall School in Derbyshire.

Between 1952 and 1957, Bob worked in Guyana, at the Cathedral in Georgetown and then as priest in charge of the Catholic church in Plaisance. On his return to the UK due to back trouble, he worked in various Jesuit parishes: St Francis Xavier’s, Liverpool; St Mary on the Quay in Bristol; and St Ignatius, Stamford Hill.

After working for a time at Heythrop College, Bob became parish priest at St Teresa’s Church in Charlbury, Oxfordshire—a position he held from 1969 to 1997.

Over the past ten years, he was a member of the Mount Street Community, serving at Braunton in Devon, and working as chaplain at Sayers Common in West Sussex.

Robert Bulbeck died on 17 October 2007; his funeral was held at Farm Street Church on 25 October 2007.

Fr Tadeusz Tokarski SJ

Fr Gerald FitzGibbon SJ

Tadeusz Tokarski was born in Laczki Kuckarskie in Poland in 1946 and entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 17. He was awarded his licentiate in Philosophy in Krakow and studied Theology in Warsaw. After ordination to the priesthood in 1972, he moved to Dublin to study English and then to Selly Oak in Birmingham to study Missiology.

In the mid-1970s, Tad was diagnosed with a severe spinal condition which was treated at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He subsequently spent time at Heenan House, Hackney, and Twyford Abbey in London.

Between 1979 and 1983, he studied for his BA in Arts through the Open University, during which period he lived at St Ignatius College in Enfield. After becoming a member of the British Province of the Society of Jesus in 1983, Tad spent his time leading people in the Spiritual Exercises.

Following the closure of Roselands in 1997, Tad moved to a purpose-converted house in Enfield and became the Co-ordinator for Pastoral Services for the Disabled for the Archdiocese of Westminster. After a year of much illness, he died on 15 December 2007 at Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield.

Gerald FitzGibbon was born in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, on 12 September 1931 and was educated at St Mary’s School in Crosby and St Francis Xavier’s College in Liverpool. He studied medicine at Liverpool University before entering the Jesuit novitiate at Harlaxton, Lincolnshire, in 1952. Between his philosophy and theology studies at Heythrop College in Oxfordshire, he taught for three years at St Aloysius’ College in Malta.

After ordination in 1964 and tertianship at St Beuno’s in North Wales, Gerald spent the next 20 years serving in parishes: at Farm Street, Stamford Hill and Wimbledon in London, St George’s in Worcester and the Catholic Church in Chipping Norton, and in Scotland— at Sacred Heart in Torry, Aberdeen and St Margaret’s, Lerwick, on Shetland.

From 1986 to 1992, he worked as a hospital chaplain in Manchester and, briefly, in Cincinnati, USA. After a period at St Francis Xavier’s Church in Liverpool, Gerald moved to Manresa House in Birmingham and then to Loyola Hall on Merseyside, where he directed retreatants in the Spiritual Exercises.

Gerald FitzGibbon died on New Year’s Day 2008, and his funeral took place on 11 January at St Bartholomew’s Church by the gates of Loyola Hall.

Please pray for those who have died recently - May they rest in peace.

Fr Tadeusz Tokarski SJ

Fr John Gough

Mrs Phyllis Fogarty

Fr Philip O’Keeffe SJ

Sr Francis Thompson PBVM

Mr John McLaren

Fr Gerald FitzGibbon SJ

Sr Rosanne RSM

Mr Patrick Murphy

Br Hermann Toma SJ

Sr Marjorie Hughes ODN

Mr Lawrence Lally

Mr Daniel Gallagher

Miss Barbara Carter

Mrs Vera Carson

(Father of Fr Peter Gallagher SJ) Mrs Louise Gallagher (Mother of Fr Peter Gallagher SJ) Mrs Jean Fletcher (Mother of Fr Paul Fletcher SJ) Mr William Birchall (Father of Fr David Birchall SJ) Ms Vongai Rugare (Sister of Fr Ignatius Zvarevashe SJ) Mrs Ruth Shepherd-Smith (Mother of the late Christopher Shepherd-Smith SJ)

Mr Hugh McLachlan

Mr Eric Brentini

Mrs K Monaghan

Mrs E Leite

Mrs M Pratt

Mr Roger Groarke

Prof Charles Anthony Hart

Mrs Bridget Brush

Mrs Catherine Lacey

Mr Edward Mangar

Mr Alexander Eaglestone

Mrs H Berndsen

Mrs E Ling

Mr Jean-Pierre Moussy

Mrs Marie Thornber

Mr Claude Moussy

Mr Robert Lyon

Mr Adolph Deane

Mr A J Hughes

Mrs Florence Nichols

Fr James Pilling

Dr Ellen Carey-Burton

Mr J Harrington

Mr James Lavelle

Mrs Mary Hughes

Mrs Maria McFarlane Reagen

Mr Patrick Donovan

Mr Keith Rogers

Mrs T Woodard

Mr Gordon Perrier

Mr A R Lindon

Mr Andrew Neville

Mr Patrick McQue

Mrs F M Mitchell

Mrs Joan Porter RIP was incorrectly identified as June in Issue 68. We apologise for this error.

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Jesuits & Friends Spring 2008 www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk

Brother Franc Pregelj SJ Born in Col, Slovenia, on 18 February 1922, Franc Pregelj worked as a miner, a bakery assistant, a decorator, an electrician’s mate, on a farm and as a forest worker before entering the Society of Jesus at the age of 37.

He completed his noviceship at Chishawasha (Zimbabwe), and after making his first vows, he remained as a Brother Junior at Silveira House. He worked as a gardener and mechanic at Monte Cassino Mission, Macheke, until his Tertianship (last stage of formal formation) in Dublin.

After a further five years at Chishawasha where he attended to the farm and garden, Franc was assigned in 1975 to the Craighead Retreat House in Scotland where, with the exception of three years at St Paul’s Seminary in Wau, Sudan, he worked as a gardener until 1999.

From July 1999 until his death on 17 October 2007, Franc was a member of the Stamford Hill Community in North London.

At his funeral at St Ignatius Church on 26 October 2007, Fr Paul Nicholson, who had known Franc for some 25 years, paid tribute to his skills as a gardener and said that many people who went on retreat at Craighead over the years drew strength from his “quiet, dogged faithfulness”.

Why not send a donation to support us?

How Can I The JESUIT DEVELOPMENT FUND helps to establish and maintain churches, schools, retreat centres and apostolic works of all kinds at home and overseas.

At present the trustees are assisting the development of our work in South Africa, and providing nursing care and attention for the elderly Jesuits of the Province.

Help?

The JESUIT SEMINARY ASSOCIATION helps to defray the expensive cost of training Jesuit priests and brothers.

A BEQUEST We would be delighted if you remember Jesuit Missions or the appeals mentioned here in your Will. We shall be happy to send you details of the official wording.

YOUR GIFTS in response to any appeals, or for any of our Missions overseas, should be sent to JESUIT MISSIONS, which is the central mission office. Please make all cheques and postal orders payable to Jesuit Missions.

GIFT AID For every pound you donate we can reclaim 28p*, thanks to the government scheme. If you need further details contact the Jesuit Missions office. *until 5 April 2008. See page 19

All Benefactors are remembered in the Masses and prayers of every Jesuit in our Province The Jesuits of North West Africa are appealing for your help to build a new school: page 6

Your generosity helps provide summer camps for around 100 children and young adults in Kyrgyzstan: page 7

Funds donated by Jesuits and Friends readers are improving the quality of life for thousands of Aids orphans: pages 10 & 11

Educational resources including computers are constantly needed in the Guyanese Interior: pages 17 & 21

Jesuit Missions 路 11 Edge Hill 路 London 路 SW19 4LR T: + 44 (0) 20 8946 0466 F: + 44 (0) 20 8946 2292 E: director@jesuitmissions.org.uk

www.jesuitmissions.org.uk

Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will.

All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I give it all back to You to be used according to Your will.

Give me only Your love and Your grace; These are enough for me, and I will desire nothing more.

Photo Caption: The British Provincial, Fr Michael Holman SJ, congratulates Fr Adolfo Nicolรกs, after his election as Superior General of the Society of Jesus. Credit: Don Doll SJ

St Ignatius Loyola